Ghetto Brothers

The Ghetto Brothers, the group from the South Bronx was formed by three brothers—Benjy, Robert and Victor Meléndez, whose family had come to New York from Puerto Rico in the 1950s. As teenagers, they became involved in social issues and Puerto Rican nationalism as practiced by the Young Lords and the Puerto Rican Socialist Party. While many youth gangs remained involved in criminal activities, Benjy was pushing his crew into new territory and trying to get away from violence and crime; in the words of Jeff Mao from their album’s liner notes they were a “legendary South Bronx street gang-turned-activist- community organization” The Ghetto Brothers would gather every day at their clubhouse on East 162nd Street and play music. They were influenced by the Beatles, Santana, doo-wop music, and Tito Puente. They were invited by a local record store owner Ismael Maisonave to record a demo on his label. In 1972 at Manhattan’s Fine Tone Studios on 42nd Street they recorded eight songs (seven of which were written by Benjy) for an album produced and engineered by Bobby Marín. The album, Power—Fuerza, was released on Maisonave’s Salsa label in 1972. By the mid-1970s the original band had stopped performing together. Their current incarnation features Benjy’s son Joshua on bass and Robert’s son Hiram in drums. Power-Fuerza, their only album has recently been re-released on Truth & Soul Records.